Earlier this month, more than 200 passionate community members filled the ballroom at Rosecliff mansion to hear from local experts on the challenges facing Newport’s urban forests and arboretums, specifically the causes and treatment strategies for beech leaf disease (BLD).
The free forum, “Iconic Trees of Newport II,” brought together an impressive coalition of tree specialists from Bartlett Tree Experts, the Newport Tree Conservancy (NTC), the City of Newport, and the Aquidneck Land Trust, with The Preservation Society of Newport County (PSNC) serving as host for the regional conservation movement.
“We are very proud to be combining forces with so many distinguished groups in this ongoing effort to combat not just beech leaf disease, but also other issues facing Newport’s arboreta,” Preservation Society CEO Trudy Coxe said in a statement, who was unable to attend the forum. “This is a complex challenge, and educating the public through forums like this is essential.”
In addition to stewarding several of Newport County’s historic mansions, the Preservation Society also cares for 88 acres of land and over 2,000 trees, including 260 beeches. As an accredited arboretum, its preservation role perhaps gets overshadowed by the care for the buildings that define much of its allure.
The biggest moment occurred when the audience was shown a microscopic video of wriggling nematodes (there were audible gasps), sampled from just a half-square-inch piece of a leaf infected with beech leaf disease. The worm video helped illuminate the seriousness of the issue afflicting the area’s trees better than any description could have.
“So we have to target this nematode, and this is really important before we can get into the buds,” explained Dr. Mathew Borden, Plant Pathologist for the Bartlett Tree Research Laboratory. “As soon as these nematodes get into the buds, which they start to do periodically from mid- or about -late summer through the fall, they start to cause some cellular changes that causes the damage that we see the next year as beech leaf disease.”
However, scientists from Bartlett Tree Experts, including Jim Ingram, Dr. Borden, Dr. Beth Brantley, and Dr. Andrew Loyd, outlined possible remedies and solutions that offered hope to combating the ongoing battle with BLD. Those include root flare injections and foliar sprays, which they say have become effective options.
“The big point here is that these are two different programs that we have designed for different situations. These are different tools for different kinds of trees,” explained Dr. Borden. “For example, our first program we call a foliar nematicide program, that means a supply of foliar application directly to the canopy of the tree. Coverage is extremely important with this program.”
Jeff Curtis, Director of Gardens and Landscapes at Preservation Society, spoke about specific initiatives that the PSNC was undertaking to preserve their trees from this spreading ailment. Natasha Harrison and Joe Verstandig from the Newport Tree Conservancy expanded on the subject, illustrating similar programs across the broader urban forest.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. Since 2000, Harrison noted that Newport’s Tree Equity Score had improved from 77 to 86, thanks to targeted planting and restoration efforts in heat-affected and underserved areas. The Newport Tree Equity Score program is an initiative aimed at addressing tree disparity across the region so more can benefit from the many ecological advantages of trees in their neighborhoods.
“Rhode Island was one of the first states to use this system to understand where we can plant trees to be providing the benefits to everyone in our community and offsetting those hot areas and providing the shade that’s needed,” said Harrison, Executive Director of NTC. “So I am proud to say, since we started in 2020 we had a Tree Equity score of 77, and it’s gone up to 86 in the past five or six years. So we’re getting there.”
Bartlett’s Dr. Brantley also saw a trend towards the positive in the tree canopy that comprises the Preservation Society’s properties. Her engaging presentation was the highlight of the evening, with a warm, enthusiastic reaction from those in attendance.
“The inventory that has been spoken of—these 300-plus beach trees—within the inventory in the Preservation Society collections, 60% are in good condition. That feels good to me. It’s a really good feeling.”
Dr. Terry Sullivan, Executive Director of Aquidneck Land Trust, discussed the changing temperatures within Oakland Forest, as one alarming example, however. “If we do nothing, invasive species will begin to proliferate. They already are in the canopy gaps. A few years ago, Oakland Forest was a place you could walk through in the middle of summer and feel a significant drop in temperature under the shade of the beech. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case with beach leaf disease in the forest. The forest is changing. Seeing the change in Oakland has been heartbreaking,” he said, but added, “we have a management plan for the future of the forest.”
Harrison talked about the grassroots community programs they’ve fostered, where they’re cultivating a new generation of environmental guardians.
“So we’re really working to not only educate them about trees, but connect on the trees, because we need them to be the next stewards.
“We do free tree walks every month. People love to come on these walks because there’s so much to learn about in every neighborhood,” Harrison said about NTC’s education efforts. “So we want our residents to understand and connect with the trees in the neighborhoods and their parks.”
Harrison and Verstandig spoke about the efforts of NTC, which has embarked on a citywide collection of over 1,200 inventoried trees representing 170 species. They pointed out that this diverse collection offers an invaluable resource for education, research and conservation.
“These trees in the public space in Newport are very beneficial to this community,” explained Verstandig, Living Collections Manager for NTC. “And with TreeKeeper, which is our inventory tool, I was able to compile the benefits that these trees provide over a five year period. And there’s a lot of benefits that we can’t calculate. The benefits that we can calculate, it was pretty remarkable.”
The organizations are also using several cutting-edge tools to better understand and monitor BLD and other diseases affecting urban canopy health.
“We manage it with an integrated approach,” explained Dr. Andrew Loyd, Plant Pathologist at the Bartlett lab. “Another way we’re going to mention this is by taking canopy photographs over key spots over time in the same location, and look at the amount of light we can see. And then we’ll also utilize drone technology to fly to sites and look at some dedicated index ratings, as well as potentially using something like LIDAR.”
NTC highlighted its ongoing management of test plots, which include hundreds of trees. This method helps them identify which species work best in the area for future planting, those that make the best ecological fit, and are resistant to disease. They are currently monitoring six to eight species with that in mind, specifically for survival, growth rate and ability to compete with invasive weeds in a 100-square-foot study.
“I wanted to thank the Preservation Society of Newport County, Newport Conservancy, Aquidneck Island Land Trust, Salve Regina and the city of Newport for organizing this week,” said Ingram, President and COO for Barlett Tree Experts, during his presentation. “This is fantastic to actually get the education out there to the people who make it happen. And we all love trees. You’re passionate, and that’s what it takes,” he said to the rapt audience.
The “Iconic Trees of Newport II” was a follow-up to the capacity crowd forum last June. The second iteration proved just as popular, with an enthusiastic question and answer session that followed a fully engaged, hour-plus presentation.
The full video of the forum is set to be posted to the Preservation Society’s YouTube channel soon.
Upcoming programs at PSNC also include the Richard Morris Hunt exhibition opening at the end of the month and the members-only cemetery tours.
